eternal flame
by sweet mysterie
Summary: who is a lady staring out the window on a cold christmas morning...who is she watching...a story bout love lost..enjoy! oneshot


its a one shot fic taken from a school project thing...supposed to be in a Katherine Mansfield style ( if you dont know who she is then never mind) no flames please ut 'constructive criticism' is always good! XP

A lonely figure battered by the icy wind battled its way down a deserted street of a small town. The road, white and foggy seemed to never end. The closed shutters of the many houses lining the street stared down at him, wondering what he was doing all alone out in the cold on Christmas morning.

Inside a building not too far away a young woman in a thick black mink coat sat by a warm fireplace, listlessly staring in to the flames. The flames licking the never burning logs gave the room a warm comfortable atmosphere. The lady fingered the ring which glimmered and shone in the faint light. Gold plated silver cutlery sat on a tray beside the large single bed, untouched. Suddenly a small boy ran into the room. He smiled at the warmth of the room. "Mummy mummy!" he shouted excitedly. "Come look at all the presents I got."

A rare smile, though small from her made the little boy glow. He happily skipped out of the room and room and back downstairs.

Tiredly she got up and went over to the window. The shutters casting many bar like shadows across her face. What a cold day it is and oh look its snowing she thought to her self. The little perfectly shaped ice crystals danced past the window, falling elegantly to the ground, far below. A lone figure in a dark cloak slowly worked his away across her vision.

"Sakura come look! Bring Daniel, its snowing!" a young man shouted excitedly, bouncing back inside to look for another coat strong enough to cope with both snow and wind combined. In the small hallway he bumped in to a young lady with a small boy of about one. "Go outside and wait for me." He said with a quick cuddle, ink stained callused hands ruffling the boy's hair. He found the coat he was looking for on the small dining table in the kitchen. It lay under some needles and thread. _Sakura is sure to have done with this by now_ he reasoned whilst gently extracting it from under the needles and thread. As he slowly put it on a rough square of material fell of revelling a large hole under the left arm. A tinkling laugh came from the door way as Sakura laughed at him, Daniel at her side.

The lady absent mindedly shook her head and fingered her fourth finger, unused to the roughness of the gem. She flung open the wardrobe doors, determined to forget.

Too impatient to wait for his mother downstairs Daniel ran up as fast as he could whilst clutching the banister with one hand, the other suffocating a scruffy bear. "Mummy, mummy" he shouted while climbing. Amongst the many pale doors on that floor was a somewhat darker one, which opened. He waited eagerly for his mother, hoping to see a happy face, but once again he was disappointed. "Mummy please come quick, open present with me" he said excitedly in a small voice.

"Daniel, I think we should wait for Sir, after all it is his house and the presents are from him"

"But but," his little lip quivering. "We always open presents, you and me, after breakfast." His voice small and sad.

"I tell you what, we'll go downstairs and I'll let you open one small present, hows that sound?" _I do hope this is going to be a good Christmas, especially for poor Daniel_, worried his mother.

Down the stairs the three of them went, Sakura holding the banister, Daniel clinging on to her hand and finally the scruffy bear, held close to his heart.

On the landing where debutants were once presented to society Sakura paused and tool in the beautiful sight before her. The entrance hall was elegantly decorated with pretty white ribbons, strung high above her, their vertexes just above her head. Instead of the normal Santa clause, in a corner was a kindly looking snow wizard which reminded her of both her father and Sir mixed together. Instead of reindeer there were eight white wolves at the feet of the wizard. The tug on her hand reminded her to keep walking. As they reached the bottom of the stairs Sakura stiffened. She could feel the servants staring at her; she could just make out the whispers.

"What does Sir see in her?"

"I heard he found her on the street."

"She even has a son, who knows what the father could be."

"I heard he was in the army."

"No he was something common, like a teacher or something."

"No way! I bet he was some guy off the street with no class"

"Just like her!"

This last comment sliced the air and was precisely aimed to strike a deadly blow, but Sakura brushed it off and walked from the cool dim entrance and in to the warm bright tea room. A great fire burned brightly, the heat washing over her.

_Something seems to be missing from this room; I can't quite think what it is_ she mused.

"Syaoran," a light voice said, "don't worry, we don't need a tree to make Christmas special, all we need is each other."

"Sakura dearest, it's just not Christmas without a tree." Syaoran gently replied slowly leading her whilst carrying a young Daniel to their kitchen come dining come living room. "Look how empty it looks."

"Empty!" Sakura said with mock horror lacing her sweet voice. "There's hardly enough space for the three of us let alone a large tree." Seeing the look on her husbands face she gave in. "Ok fine, we can make space, but you know trees aren't cheap."

Sakura knew the reason for the absence of a tree had nothing to do with space or the price. She robotically glided over to the sofa. It enveloped her in a velvety hug and she watched Daniel scuttle over to the large pile of presents sitting by the fire.

"Remember, only one small present" she reminded the small boy.

With that thought in mind he picked up one of the smallest presents there was. It was elaborately wrapped in gold wrapping paper with a pretty white bow. He carefully untied the bow and slowly began unwrapping the gift. He reverently pulled out a bear ½ as big as he was and slightly bigger than his current bear. It was a handsome bear. It had a smart uniform, greens and browns complementing its golden fur. It even had a pair of shiny black boots. It was holding a card addressed to Daniel. Daniel glanced over to his mother, noticing she was staring in to space again he gingerly opened the card.

It read:

Daniel,

Do not be disappointed with this dismal gift; your proper gift shall arrive later. Thankfully the maid informed me of your horrid old scruffy bear like thing you carry around. Now you have something much better to replace it with.

Sir

Daniel though not fully understanding the meaning of all the words understood enough to know he had to get rid of his precious Syaoran whom he had since before he could remember. It was a terrible thought; Syaoran had always been there, his constant companion though rough times n good. The poor little boy let out a sob.

Sakura watched as if in a dream. She saw her son carefully unwrap the present. It was a bear, similar to his own.

She helped Daniel unwrap his present, hair covering her face. The fire, only source of warmth, blazed behind the grate. She laboriously took off the paper and folded it neatly, ignoring the many headlines screaming out at her.

"Mummy bear!" a gleeful childish voice told her.

"Oh isn't that nice, what would you like to call him?"

"Umm," Daniels one year old brain worked fast, "Syaoran" he finally said, saying the only name he could remember.

"Syaoran," Lily repeated, shock resonating in her voice. "That's a good name dear."

Oh Syaoran, why did you have to go sign up, we could have gone away, far away. I could have reasoned with them, but now you're gone she thought listlessly. Almost as if he were right next to her, she heard him say "You know why, I had to prove myself, not to you but to them, you deserve the good life you had before, this was the only way."

She heard a small sob. She looked over to Daniel and saw the new bear. She knew immediately what was wrong.


End file.
